justnorth posted on January 30, 2007 21:52 :: 1387 Views
More than 162,500 permits have been issued through the spring turkey preference drawing for the spring 2007 Wisconsin wild turkey season. Another 43,800 spring turkey permits will be sold over-the-counter starting at 10 a.m., Friday, March 23.
A total of 46 zones, 15 state parks and Fort McCoy will be open for hunting. Successful applicants should be receiving their permit notification via postcard shortly, say licensing officials. Beginning Wednesday Jan. 31, hunters can also check on-line to find out whether or not they drew a permit through the DNR Web site, according to Diane Brookbank, director of the DNR Bureau of Customer Services and Licensing.
The 2007 season runs from April 11- May 20 in six 5-day hunting periods (Wednesday through Sunday). The number of permits is up more than 5,000 over the 2006 total of 200,869. In the 2006 spring season, hunters harvested 46,662 turkeys for a success rate of about 23 percent in 2006. More information is available on the turkey hunting pages of the DNR Web site.
“If you are unable to access the Internet and haven’t received a postcard by mid-February call a DNR Service Center to find out the status of your permit application. Just remember to have your DNR customer ID number handy when you go online or call,” Brookbank said.
Winter survival should be good this year, according to state wildlife officials.
“Snow cover and cold have been low to moderate and as long as there is access to ample food supply, turkeys can handle nearly any Wisconsin winter,” said Scott Hull, DNR upland game ecologist.
“Turkeys can remain in roosting areas for up to two weeks during especially severe weather and can lose up to 40 percent of their body weight before dying of starvation. Biologically speaking, artificial feeding is not the best approach to helping wild turkeys,” adds Hull. “Long-term habitat management, aimed at increasing suitable habitat available to turkeys year round as well as during extremes of winter is the best investment.”
Hunters are reminded that Fort McCoy runs a separate spring turkey hunting season, different from the State of Wisconsin spring turkey hunt. Hunters that do not receive an approval to hunt turkeys through the state drawing in a Wisconsin turkey hunting zone for the 2007 spring season are eligible to apply for a spring permit at Fort McCoy. Applications can be obtained from Fort McCoy by calling 608-388-3337 or visiting their Web site at http://www.mccoy.army.mil/.
Over the counter sales starting March 23
Remaining spring turkey permits will be sold over-the-counter on a first come, first served basis starting at 10 a.m. on Friday, March 23.
The permits will be available at any license sales location, over the phone (1-877-945-4236), or online through the DNR Web site. The fee for those permits will be $10 for residents, and $15 for nonresidents. All hunters will also be required to pay the spring turkey license and stamp fee, unless they have previously purchased the license and stamp, or are a 2007 Conservation Patron license holder. Residents and nonresidents will have equal opportunity to purchase these permits.
Purchasing permits over-the-counter will not affect hunter preference status for future spring or fall turkey permit drawings. Purchases are limited to one permit per day per hunter until each zone and time period is sold out. A select number of disabled turkey permits for several state parks are also available for over-the-counter sales. Disabled hunters should note that these permits will only be available through DNR Service Centers.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Scott Hull (608) 267-7861 or Andrea Mezera (608) 261-8458
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